The multinational technology consulting services company, Capgemini has recently obtained the first accreditation for customer specification inspections in the following sectors: aeronautics and space, industry and energy, navy, and railway.

In this interview, Luis Miguel Canales, Inspection Body Director at Capgemini Engineering, explains the value that customer specification inspections bring to the market and accreditation's guarantees for this activity.

 

What is the importance of customer specification inspections in the supply chain, manufacturing processes, etc.?

Customer specification inspections cover a market need given the processes' and products' huge diversity and technological innovation, which, due to intellectual property or customization, cannot benefit from a standard regulatory framework. These inspections are aimed at assessing compliance with conformity, or key parametres, regulated through requirements specified by the inspection body's external clients. In the absence of a standardized regulatory framework, this means it is checked impartially, with the means and resources required for it, to comply with customer requirement conformity for a product or process.

What was Capgemini’s motivation to apply for this accreditation? How can your service users (manufacturers, owners, buyers etc.) benefit from this accreditation?

This accreditation covers a market need, as the manufacturing and service environment must continually assure its specifications and continue to introduce and assess new ones. Applying for and obtaining this accreditation is the first step on a path that enables us to help our customers and partners regularize, harmonize, and optimize a process as important as the product or process specification inspection.

Accreditation and its deployment via ENAC-accredited bodies guarantee that the accredited organizations comply with marked international standards and offers clients Capgemini Engineering's internationally recognized reliability as an accredited body for this type of inspections, in addition to the benefits inherent in accreditation, among which I would highlight the following:

• Trust and credibility: By having a body accredited under the UNE-EN ISO/IEC 17020 standard, manufacturers, owners, and buyers can trust that the inspections are carried out by a competent and impartial body. This increases the credibility of the inspection results and gives greater confidence in products and processes.
• Risk reduction: accreditation according to UNE EN ISO/IEC 17020 helps mitigate risks by reinforcing confidence that inspections are done properly. This is especially important in sectors where product failures or defects can have serious consequences, such as in aeronautics and space, where safety is paramount.
• Helping international trade: Rely on an accredited body helps international trade, as many countries and foreign customers may ask for inspections by accredited bodies to ensure the imported product's quality and safety.
• Uniform standards: Accreditation ensures that inspections are conducted consistently and uniformly, regardless of the inspection body's location or personnel. This provides a solid basis for decision-making and risk assessment throughout the supply chain, as well as optimizing and standardizing how these inspections are carried out, thereby helping customer assessment or monitoring.

Your accreditation is framed in sectors such as aerospace, navy, railway, industry and energy. Are the customer specifications critical in these sectors? Do you consider that there are other sectors where accreditation guarantee is key?

These sectors are based on a key factor such as technological development, often being innovation leaders, so providing guarantees in specification inspection, in a constantly evolving environment, becomes the critical point of putting a product or process into service.

Every project design process is based on defined parameters or sequences that make up a specification. Most of these actions are common to all industries or markets, being affected by their particularities, which usually provide more detailed specifications. For example, in a product packaging process, taking that all products are packaged as a hypothesis, the change is the way to perform this procedure, particularly the specifications. However, the process itself is similar and can be set up in different markets or industries. Therefore, this accreditation and its guarantee is fully extendable to all markets or industries where the products or processes' specifications to be inspected are defined by the inspection body's customer.